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Doctorow: Collected Stories
Doctorow: Collected Stories | E.L. Doctorow
A superb collection of fifteen stories by an American master, E. L. Doctorowthe author of Ragtime, The March, The Book of Daniel, and Billy Bathgate He has been called a national treasure by George Saunders. Doctorows great topic, said Don DeLillo, is the reach of American possibility, in which plain lives take on the cadences of history. This power is apparent everywhere in these stories: the bravery and self-delusion of people seeking the American dream; the geniuses, mystics, and charlatans who offer people false hope, or an actual glimpse of greatness. In A House on the Plains, a mother has a plan for financial independence, which may include murder. In Walter John Harmon, a man starts a cult using subterfuge and seduction. Jolene: A Life follows a teenager who escapes her home for Hollywood on a perilous quest for success. Heist, the account of an Episcopal priest coping with a crisis of faith, was expanded into the bestseller City of God. The Water Works, about the underbelly of 1870s New York, grew into a brilliant novel. Liner Notes: The Songs of Billy Bathgate is a corollary to the renowned novel and includes Doctorows revisions. These fifteen stories, written from the 1960s to the early twenty-first century, and selected, revised, and placed in order by the author himself shortly before he died in 2015, are a testament to the genius of E. L. Doctorow. Praise for E. L. Doctorow He has rewarded us, these forty-five years, with a vision of ourselves, as a people, a vision possessed of what I might call aspirational vervehe sees us clearly and tenderly, just as we are, but also sees past thatto what we might, at our best, become.George Saunders Doctorow did not so much write fiction about history as he seemed to occupy history itself. He owned it. He made it his own.Ta-Nehisi Coates On every level, [Doctorows] work is powerful. . . . His sensitivity to language is perfectly balanced, and complemented by a gigantic vision.Jennifer Egan [Doctorow wrote] with such stunning audacity that I can still remember my parents awed dinner-table conversation, that summer, about a novel they were reading, called Ragtime, that went up to the overgrown wall enclosing the garden of fiction and opened the doorway to history.Michael Chabon Doctorows prose tends to create its own landscape, and to become a force that works in opposition to the power of social reality.Don DeLillo A writer of dazzling gifts and boundless imaginative energy.Joyce Carol Oates
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Sunraven
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Another new hold from the library, another pretty cover. 😊 (Side note: Shiny books take so much effort to photograph decently...)

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Suet624
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Doctorow at the Dollar Tree? I didn‘t need more books, but at $1.00 each I‘m grabbing them. Of course I checked Litsy before grabbing the other ones.

ErickaS_Flyleafunfurled Good stuff! Mischling is really intense and a great read. The Lesser Bohemians is quite original. Looking up those others! Good haul!! 4y
Leftcoastzen Yay ! Dollar Tree finds ! 4y
TheLibrarian What great finds! 4y
See All 12 Comments
Crazeedi Wow! Great haul!! 4y
Eggs What a haul! 4y
Suet624 @TheLibrarian @crazeedi @eggs I know, right? Now I just have to actually read them rather than grabbing books fro the library. :)
4y
Suet624 @Leftcoastzen Dollar Tree is nuts! I found Autumn by Ali Smith at Christmas. 4y
Suet624 @ErickaS_Flyleafunfurled Mischling definitely makes me a bit nervous but I'm interested. Have you read The Lesser Bohemians? 4y
BarbaraBB Lucky you! 4y
LeahBergen I have Mischling on my TBR. 👍🏻 4y
ErickaS_Flyleafunfurled Yes - Bohemians is really cool. I like her writing style. It takes some concentration for me, though, but once I get used to it it‘s really engrossing. 4y
Crazeedi @Suet624 exactly! I seem to have a similar problem ! 😉 4y
61 likes12 comments
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OrangeMooseReads
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You guys ... THIS! At the fucking Dollar Tree! Are you kidding me! Holy hell! I cannot believe it. I‘ve wanted this book for so long. Just look at how beautiful this thing is. I‘m ok with the fact that the dust jacket is a little beat up, but no tears 👍🏼 I wanted to dance around when I found it

readordierachel 👏👏👏 4y
Chrissyreadit Wow!!!! I wonder if my dollar tree has any? 4y
Eggs Great find👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 4y
See All 6 Comments
Lcsmcat Score! 4y
ValerieAndBooks Nice! Wow! The Dollar Tree nearest me rarely has a good selection! The one near daughter ‘s dance studio was much better, but after she graduated from HS it‘s out of the way for me. 4y
OrangeMooseReads @ValerieAndBooks my normal DT is really hit and miss. I went to a different, larger, and a bit out of the way yesterday and found so much good stuff. 4y
54 likes6 comments
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OrangeMooseReads
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I think I've posted this before. It just looks so pretty and so interesting. I just want to hold it for a while and then devour it.

shawnmooney It is pretty! 7y
OrangeMooseReads @shawnmooney it is, the picture doesn't do it justice 7y
22 likes1 stack add2 comments
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MrBook
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#TBRtemptation post! This came out right before Halloween. I've read several of Doctorow's books & enjoyed them all. I've always thought he would excel even better at short stories. Here's our chance to find out 😁👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻!!! 15 of them. A man starts a cult. A runaway teen heads to Hollywood. A priest has a crisis of faith. The portrayal of 1870s NYC's back-alley society. A farm boy. A letter writer. A con woman. #blameLitsy #blameMrBook 😎

OrangeMooseReads I saw this at the bookstore last weekend and it made my heart skip 😀 7y
Branwen Plus, what a gorgeous cover! 7y
TheLondonBookworm You had me at cult 7y
93 likes8 stack adds3 comments
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JewishBookCouncil
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A year and a half after the passing of “the reigning godfather of historical fiction,” a new collection of fifteen stories written, selected, revised, and ordered by E. L. Doctorow comes out January 2017!

Find out more about our #JewLit Book Cover of the Week here: http://bit.ly/2hEfJ8z

#bookcover #bookcoveroftheweek #eldocotorow #historicalfiction

LauraJ Looking forward to this release! 7y
38 likes1 stack add1 comment
review
Dylangrrl
Pickpick

Familiar with Doctorow, but not sure what to expect here. Found it a little slow at first, but picked up about 1/3 of the way in and held me to the end. From a desperate teen housewife to a cuckold cult follower, a stolen baby to a runaway husband, these stories stole my heart. Doctorow has a way of making simple ideas beautiful with the turn of a phrase or originality of a character's thought. Recommend with/without prior experience w Doctorow.

review
Dylangrrl
Pickpick

Familiar with Doctorow, but not sure what to expect here. Found it a little slow at first, but picked up about 1/3 of the way in and held me to the end. From a desperate teen housewife to a cuckold cult follower, a stolen baby to a runaway husband, these stories stole my heart. Doctorow has a way of making simple ideas beautiful with the turn of a phrase or originality of a character's thought. Recommend with/without prior experience w Doctorow.